1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates generally to a mud flap lifters, which adjust the position of the mud flaps in order to prevent the mud flaps from being torn or otherwise damaged, and more particularly to the positioning of the lifting units on the vehicle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Mud flaps, made of rubber, are generally installed behind rear wheels on trailers, trucks and other heavy vehicles that operate on public roadways. The mud flaps are necessary to prevent water, mud, and other debris from splashing onto vehicles travelling behind the heavy vehicle, and are known to get trapped beneath the tires and get torn off and broken, or otherwise damaged when the vehicle moves in reverse. To prevent this type of damage the mud flaps were temporarily fastened to the truck rearward and away from the rear wheels. To do so, the driver had to stop the truck, leave the cabin, and manually raise the mud flap. Manually moving a mud flap while outside the cabin was very inconvenient, time consuming and dangerous, especially in a construction zone during heavy traffic.
Today, vehicle manufacturers do not equip heavy vehicles with mud flap savers that could solve number of problems. In addition to lost time replacing or fixing a damaged mud flap, purchasing new mud flaps, heavy vehicle without mud flaps are known to create an accidents by splashing dirty water, mud, and other debris onto vehicles travelling behind the heavy vehicle on public roadways
Numerous mud flap lifters are known in the prior and widely used today in the industry, tried to solve this problem. U.S. Pat. No. 6,158,775 to Nickels, U.S. Pat. No. 6,402,200 to Myers, and United States Patent Publication No. 2002/0074790 to Heem disclose a variety of mud flap systems and assemblies.
The U.S. Pat. No. 6,158,775 to Nickels shows a mud flap lifting device provided for mounting on a truck or other vehicles in which the device selectively lifts the mud flap away from the tires. The device includes a power cylinder or lifting unit mounted to the vehicle in proximity to an upper edge of the mud flap wherein the cylinder includes a movable piston. The power cylinder is mounted in a housing positioned below and outside rear end of the vehicle and can be damaged by debris or by another vehicle during collision or when backing up.
The U.S. Pat. No. 6,402,200 to Myers describes an apparatus and method for moving the mud flaps mounted on a truck from their normal planar operating position behind the truck's rear tires to a protected position engaging the rear tires. The apparatus includes a power cylinder to manipulate the mud flaps wherein the power cylinder is positioned on the side-walls of the truck above the tires.
The U.S. Patent Publication No. 2002/0074790 to Heem shows an automatic lifting mud flap assembly for a motor vehicle that includes at least two identical flap control boxes or housings wherein each housing is detachably mounted on the motor vehicle in the location of the mud flap after the standard mud flap is removed. The mud flap is then mounted on the mounting box using standardized fittings. The housing includes a lifting unit and a pulley system positioned within the housing to control the extent of the cable outside the box, connected with the mud flaps. Similar to mud flap lifting devise disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,158,775 to Nickels, the lifting unit disclosed in the U.S. Patent Publication No. 2002/0074790 to Heem can be damaged by another vehicle during collision or when backing up.
Although the prior art patents provide different designs of the mud flap lifters, one of the opportunities of continuous development and research is the area of a more advanced design of a mud flap lifters are protected from environmental damage. It would be desirable to conceal a mud flap lifting unit on a vehicle protecting from damage by another vehicle during the collision or when backing up.